Nazareth woman admits setting fire to attached townhouse

Karla Dewey of Nazareth has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that severely… (FILE PHOTO, THE MORNING…)

May 10, 2013|By Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call

A Nazareth woman cried Friday as she pleaded guilty to setting fire to her townhouse last year while her 3-year-old child was at home.

In admitting in Northampton County Court to charges of arson and welfare endangerment, 31-year-old Karla Ann Dewey offered no explanation for why she started the fire at the Green Street house she rented.

On March 13, 2012, firefighters and police were called to 40 N. Green St., a two-story wood-frame townhouse that is attached to four other town homes. Dewey's address ended up with "substantial damage" and another unit was also damaged, said her defense attorney, Christopher Shipman.

The blaze was one of two arson cases Dewey faced. Under her plea bargain, prosecutors withdrew charges that she lit a piece of poster board in an office at St. John's United Church of Christ in Nazareth in October 2009, a fire that burned out before the wall caught fire, according to court records.

In the house fire, Dewey initially told police that she and her child had been sleeping when the smoke alarm sounded and they fled. But in a later interview, she admitted setting the blaze, police said.

An investigation showed the fire was started on the couch, probably with a cigarette lighter, police said.

Judge Anthony Beltrami ordered Dewey to undergo a psychological examination before she is sentenced July 12. Shipman said a defense psychologist has already begun examining her.